BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team returns to Southeastern Conference play here Tuesday night when they try to defeat the Auburn Tigers in the Auburn Arena.
The Tigers are 13-8 overall and 6-2 in league play and are tied with Kentucky and South Carolina for second, one game behind league leading Texas A&M. The games Tuesday through Thursday will complete the first half of the 18-game league schedule.
The game is set to tip just after 6 p.m. CT with the television coverage on the SEC Network with John Saunders, Jon Sundvold and Kaylee Hartung on the call. Jim Hawthorne, Ricky Blanton and studio host Kevin Ford will have the call on the LSU Sports Radio Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge).
All three teams tied for second place will play at the same time on Tuesday evening and all three – LSU, South Carolina and Kentucky – will be on the road. Texas A&M will not play until Thursday evening.
Both teams are coming off losses Saturday in the Big 12/SEC Challenge with LSU losing at home to No. 1-ranked Oklahoma, 77-75, after the Tigers had led for virtually the entire contest. LSU led by as many as 14 in the second half before Buddy Hield led a comeback that included his seven second-half three-point makes and the Sooners scored with 3.8 seconds the winning points.
The game overshadowed a strong night by Tim Quarterman who led LSU with 18 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the arc and 11 points from Antonio Blakeney that included two three-pointers in the final two minutes, including one that allowed LSU to tie the game at 75 in the final minute.
Freshman Ben Simmons had 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the contest.
Auburn, 9-11 and 3-5 in the league, is coming off a 73-64 loss at Auburn Arena to Oklahoma State in the Challenge. Bruce Pearl is in his second year at Auburn as head coach. Kareem Canty had a game-high 21 points and a career-high eight rebounds for the second straight game to lead Auburn. Freshman Horace Spencer had 11 rebounds and six blocks to go with six points. Auburn shot just 29 percent from the field in the game with the Cowboys and missed all 12 second half three-point attempts.
Auburn played their contest without senior star Cinmeon Bowers, who averages 10.7 points and 9.1 rebounds per game (4th in the SEC) as he was held out for disciplinary reasons as well as three other players who missed the game with injuries. Bowers is expected to return for the LSU game.
Canty leads Auburn with an 18.5 points per game average, while Tyler Harris averaged 15.3 points per game.
LSU is expected to go with the lineup they have used the last couple of games with point forward Simmons, forward Craig Victor II and guards Keith Hornsby, Jalyn Patterson and Quarterman.
Simmons is averaging 19.5 points per game, 12.5 rebounds and 4.9 assists, while Victor comes in at 13.0 points and 6.3 rebounds. Hornsby checks in at 12.9 marks a contest, with Quarterman at 11.9 points and 3.6 assists per game. Patterson averages 6.3 points.
Last year, Auburn won two-of-three meetings with the teams winning on the other’s home court and then Auburn taking a 73-70 victory in overtime during their run to the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament in Nashville.
Follow updates on LSU Basketball during the game at www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball and on Twitter @LSUBasketball.
Coach Johnny Jones met with the media prior to the team’s departure for Auburn Monday afternoon and here were some of his comments:
Opening Statement…
“We are excited about the big game on the road tomorrow against an Auburn team that has certainly had success at home, knocking off teams like Kentucky, Alabama, playing a good Oklahoma State team without one of their starters Saturday. We know it’s going to be a great challenge for us tomorrow evening and are looking forward to getting back out on the floor after a very hard fought, tough battle against the No. 1 team in the country in Oklahoma. I thought our guys did an exceptional job, competing at a great level for 40 minutes in that game. Unfortunately, we came up short in terms of the score but were never short on effort in any of the areas the other night. That certainly gives us a reason to be excited about this team moving forward.”
On not letting the loss linger…
“We certainly have a motto and something that we live by in terms of our approach to this season. It’s a journey for us. After each stop, the last one would have been Saturday with the Oklahoma game, we have to make sure that we are able to move on regardless of the success or lack thereof. We have to make sure that we move on and prepare for our next stop. That will be Auburn. We’ve done a good job of engaging and being that way throughout the season. That’s a part of the growth of our team. It was an emotional game for us. We’ve been in those before. We certainly have to move on. I think we were able to do that (Sunday) in our preparation for Auburn.”
On having to bounce back for a quick turnaround, playing Tuesday…
“It’s always good to have an opportunity to get back on the floor in preparation just in practice then in games. Each one of our games certainly takes on its own identity. This game against Auburn is another challenge for us. It’s back in conference play and will certainly carry its own meaning for us to try to continue and extend playing well in our conference. We certainly had success in the last few games, and we know what type of team they are and the dangers they present playing at home. We know what the challenge is, and that’s what we have to step up to and step up for.”
On looking at the final 10 conference games…
“The big thing is (Tuesday) will present the (end of the) first round or the first half of the conference play for us. We will be at nine games. To have success, which we will, at the end of the day in the first round of games, you’re hopeful to be sitting there with a really good record after the first round. Then, you have your second round that you’re battling with of the 18 games. That’s what we are looking forward to is that challenge. That’s what we point at. That’s why I think each game carries its own significance. This game will be really important to us tomorrow just like the rest of them will be after that. It’s one game at a time. What certainly positions us in conference play is that we are sitting in second place right now. That’s huge for us to be there close to the (end of the) first half of conference play. It doesn’t get much better. You’re only one game out of first place after eight games now. Hopefully, after nine we are still sitting there half a game out.”
On the conference race being most important for the team now…
“It always comes down to the conference race. We could have had a great deal of success Saturday, and if we don’t fare well in our conference race it’s all for naught. That’s what we are talking about at our banquet—how well we played, we won and beat Oklahoma. Our goal and mission is to make sure we play well, finish well, finish strong in our conference race. That’s where you compete at. Playing a game of that magnitude like we did on Saturday in the middle of your conference race is different for you. Our main goal and focus is to make sure that each game is really important for us. Our quest is to always continue to improve and try to finish at the top of our conference standings. At the end of the day, our conference is so strong that will take care of a lot of things because of the strength of our conference, our conference schedule—its rated No. 1 in non-conference schedule. It’s high in RPI. We are excited about where we are. We have to make sure that we continue to build each game.”
On Auburn…
“…They’re a solid team. To be able to beat Kentucky and getting into a game with Alabama, who I think is a very talented team, and to have success against those guys says a lot about them.
“They’re a good defensive basketball team. They are certainly a threat offensively with the way that they can make plays. They had a really tough night at Florida. They are a good three-point shooting team just didn’t shoot the ball that well. Obviously, teams play much better at home than they do away, generally. That will be the task that we will be up against. I will expect a good, raucous crowd in their arena as well that should be there to give them energy and will be something else that we will have to try to play through.”
On post feeds by the guards and their passes…
“Not only them but with all of our players in terms of post feeds. We had 15 turnovers the other night. Some of those came in trying to feed the post. I think the big thing is trying to get the ball in the post area early when those guys are making their move. Our guys understand our plays and what we are trying to execute. Sometimes we are a little late after the play has developed in trying to get the ball in. It has to be earlier than later. We have to continue working on that. It’s something that we continue to address and always will. Some of our turnovers came from trying to punch it in the post.”
On the effort in the loss to Oklahoma…
“Our thing is we are never satisfied in terms of having setbacks. There are always other things we could have possibly done to play better. What are those things? We certainly don’t want our guys hanging their head because of the effort that they gave. They gave a great effort, played extremely hard in some plays that were made out there on the floor. All of our guys strive for excellence. We just came up short as a team. Overall, I thought Tim Quarterman had a good game because of what he was able to do defensively and the plays he made offensively, going 5-of-5 from the three-point line. That’s an exceptional night. He had to do that for us to be in the position we were in, close enough to those guys, especially with how they shot the ball in the second half. I think a lot of people knew…we got really beat on the other end of the floor when they got offensive rebounds and we lost Buddy Hield coming to the rim to get rebounds and they quickly kicked the ball back out to him. He wound up hitting shots late. That’s the area that we failed to execute in, not getting rebounds. Anytime they got second chance opportunities they hurt us …”
On positive steps in the setback…
“The thing is we are always looking for whether we have setbacks or success in games, we are always looking for areas that we have to improve and continue to get better because we don’t want to remain the same. The good thing is we have a team full of guys that embrace getting better, accept challenges and make sure that we continue to take positive steps. Does it always happen? No. At least their mindset is always in the right place. That’s always encouraging, especially when you have a young group of guys that are not as experienced going through some of the things that they have to go through. Take that team we played the other night—all the experience those guys had on that team and to be able to battle them like that says a lot about this young team and where I think they are headed.”